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Geoff was up on the roof while I got my in-room massage - which was awesome. Not only did this woman have magic hands, but she came equipped with hot stones, an electric massager, and a TENS unit. All for about $35 for the hour. My back was pretty stiff from tubing. I blame it on the life jacket, not terribly comfortable and kept sliding around. We have another go at tubing in the national park. Hope I can leave the jacket on the tube.
It is cloudy and cool here with a chance of rain. Our guide, Carolina, and driver, Juan, were
right on time. Our first stop on the tour was Pablo’s house – which was pretty much an entire apartment building that he built for just his family. It is abandoned today and is owned by the police. You can see where the bombs hit. There were several of them throughout his stay there. From there it was on to the cemetery where he is buried. Visited the grave of Greselda Blanco a.k.a The Black Widow, Cocaine Godmother, and the Queen of Narco-Trafficking, from Miami who taught Pablo some of the tricks of the trade. Next was the
grave of his cousin and partner who got blown up in one of Pablo’s bombs. Last is the grave
site of Pablo and his family. Everyday people still come to put new flowers on the graves of these drug lords. He is referred to by the poor people as the Robin Hood of Colombia. This is only because he bought all his votes by bribery and lies (sounds all too familiar). It is said that Pablo made so much money he spent $2,000 a week just on rubber bands to wrap all the money up! In the end his mother sold him out to the DEA so that she basically could go shopping in Miami.
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist. His cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US $21.9 billion a year in personal income. He was often called "The King of Cocaine" and was the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US $30 billion by the early 1990s (equivalent to about $56 billion as of 2017), making him one of the richest men in the world in his prime.
In 1982, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia as part of the Liberal Alternative movement. Through this, he was responsible for the construction of houses and football fields in western Colombia, which gained him notable popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. However, Colombia became the murder capital of the world, and Escobar was vilified by the Colombian and American governments. In 1993, Escobar was shot and killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, one day after his 44th birthday.
Our next stop was over to San Antonio Park. Another bombing sight, where a commissioned Botero bird was blown up. In 1995, a bomb weighing more than 20 lbs was placed in the base of the bird. Botero donated the second bird on the condition that the first be kept along side – representing the old violence and the new peace. Also got to see the police giving a self defense class in the park.
We continued on to Comuna 13 where we met up with Ciro, our graffiti guide. He is a rapper from a group called Casa Kolacho:
The Comuna 13 of Medellín was one of the most violent in the city. Their young, tired, decided to tell that their neighborhood is something more than murders and drugs with rap, graffiti and break dance and for that they founded the Kolacho House. Two decades later, this meeting point of artists has given an alternative to the boys so as not to fall into criminality with art as the only weapon. They aspire to change lives.
One of the first achievements of this youth group was the festival Revolution without dead , which is celebrated for the first time on October 16, 2003, anniversary of Operation Orion. What started as an event for inexperienced young people who wanted to offer microphones, paint and dance floors as an alternative to helicopters and bullets, grew to become an internationally renowned macrofestival that in 2010 managed to gather more than 30,000 people.
We rode down the famous Medellin escalators built to help bridge the neighborhoods.
High up on the city's hillside, Comuna 13 is an area that had been plagued with violence and was once a stronghold for guerrillas and drug traffickers.
Its 12,000 residents had to hike the equivalent of 28 stories home after scraping their living in the city. Steep roads made it impossible for vehicles to access this poor neighborhood, leaving the community isolated and impenetrable.
The solution? A giant 384-meter orange-roofed escalator that scales the mountain in six sections, with a journey taking just six minutes. Opened in 2011, the development has become a model for urban planning around the world.
More importantly, the simple innovation is credited with helping to bring peace and pride to a community once plagued with violence.
Architect Carlos Escobar came up with the idea. "Nobody trusted that this project would be possible. Before, this area was under the control of gangs," he said. "Right now, this area [has] become a neutral zone. The control is in the community's hands."
One running theme throughout our stay in Colombia so far, has been Pachamama – mother earth. Meaning the earth (nature) gives us everything and it seems we give nothing back in return. This was expressed in Bogota, Cali and now in Medellin in the art.
Carolina took us next to a world famous place to get popsicles. We got the mango which is dipped in a lemony salt juice. Great flavor. While we were there I talked to a woman from another tour. Turns out she is from Holland, Flushing, Holland!! We both had a good laugh when I told her I grew up in Flushing, NY.
Before leaving, Ciro gave us a short lesson in graffiti – which by the way started in the Bronx by a delivery guy who would tag all the places he made deliveries. We did our best and said good-bye to Ciro.
Juan dropped us off at a really cool place for lunch so we could have beans and rice, the Hacienda. It is down the hill from our hotel – which by the way, we have decided to stay and not move. We have learned that there really is not a so-called charming part of town. Medellin is very new and most of the city is large buildings and shopping. Plus we can’t get our money back from this place. We are gone most of the day anyway.
Of course, we changed all our plans around while we were riding in the car. Tomorrow instead of biking city tour we are going to El Penon so that we can take our time. Saturday we will do a city tour – not sure yet if it is biking or car. This morning was mostly rain – don’t feel like biking these hills in the rain.
Carolina was able to get us reservations for tonight at a very famous restaurant, Carmen (when I tried there were no reservations to be had). She also made reservations at another great spot for Saturday night – where she set up a meeting with the chef there. So our time is pretty much covered.
The sun came out right before lunch which was great. It was time for an espresso if we were going to tackle the huge hill to the hotel. Found a great place called Fresh Coffee & Bicycle. Ordered two double espressos. I noticed this strange contraption on a table and was told it was a coffee siphon. All of a sudden, one of the guys starts a demonstration and served us two cafes gratis. Very interesting process. It was very sweet of them.
Hiked up the hill, changed into our suits and we are now sitting on the rooftop. We have the place to ourselves.
Hung around the room for a while until it was time to get ready for dinner. Took a $3 cab ride across town and got to Carmen's early. No problem, they gave us a great table in a quiet part of the restaurant. The food was the best I have tasted in a very long time. The octopus over black polenta was something that neither one of us had ever tasted. We both got different fish dishes and both were extraordinary. The restaurant we go to on Saturday is going to have to go a long way to top tonight. Of course, we wound up having a lively conversation with our neighboring diners from Michigan via London. They were also traveling around Colombia on their own and we picked up a few tips. They had done extensive travel in South America so we grilled them on Patagonia -which may be our next adventure. We had a lovely evening and now it is time to say buenos noches.
Next time…El Penon
I got to see the differences between a small coffee producer and the large one I saw today. One of the main differences is the use of machines, not to harvest the beans, but to process them after harvest. Small farmers, which make up the vast majority of Colombian growers, use large amounts of water to clean the beans of the pulp inside the skins, while farms with machines can use less water under pressure to do the same thing. Drying by ovens is more cost effective for lager producers than drying smaller amounts of beans in the sun. Either way, the result is the same.
